Today is Monday, Oct. 15, the 288th day of 2018. There are 77 days left in the year.

Today is Monday, Oct. 15, the 288th day of 2018. There are 77 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1783: The first manned balloon flight takes place in Paris as Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier ascends in a basket attached to a tethered Montgolfier hot-air balloon, rising to about 75 feet.

1860: Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., writes a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.

1917: Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari, 41, convicted by a French military court of spying for the Germans, is executed by a firing squad outside Paris.

1991: Despite sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill, the Senate narrowly confirms the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, 52-48.

2001: Bethlehem Steel Corp. files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

2008: Republican John McCain repeatedly assails Democrat Barack Obama’s character and campaign positions on taxes, abortion and more in a debate at Hofstra University.

2017: Actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweets that women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted should write “Me too” as a status; within hours, tens of thousands take up the #MeToo hashtag.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it is committed to locating a store in Boardman, even if its bid of $3.3 million to buy an unfinished store in the Parks at Boardman Park is rejected by Phar-Mor Inc.

Youngstown Mayor Patrick Ungaro, seeking his final four-year term, is being challenged by Republican Thomas Provino, who says salary increases of 4 to 5 percent recently approved for city department managers is excessive.

Dr. Henry Heimlich, inventor of the anti-choking Heimlich Maneuver, will speak at Stambaugh Auditorium as part of the Town Hall lecture series.

1978: Vice President Walter Mondale makes a campaign stop in Youngstown in support of U.S. Rep. Charles J. Carney and Ohio gubernatorial hopeful Richard F. Celeste.

J. Campbell Bryce, executive vice president of Alpha Associates Inc., says his firm is helping bankroll ICX Aviation Inc.’s plan to build an aircraft assembly plant at the Youngstown Municipal Airport, but hasn’t found any acceptable offers for the $150 million that is needed.

Youngstown district’s troubled industrial plants, particularly steel makers, are running into a costly shortage of railroad cars.

1968: Liberty Township police, alerted by a silent alarm, interrupt three men burglarizing the Logan Way home of Edward W. Powers, partner in Butler, Wick & Co., Youngstown brokerage firm.

The “Automatic” Sprinkler Corp. of America’s unused plant on Jones Street is sold to Raymond P. Park of Portland, Ore., nationally known industrial Realtor. “Automatic,” quit operations two years ago after a long strike.

A long-haired 18-year-old Ravine Drive youth charged with glue-sniffing is advised to return to municipal court for sentencing with a haircut close to butch length.

1943: County home Supt. Guy C. Clupper is exonerated by Mahoning County commissioner of all charges brought against him by a cook at the home who resigned shortly before accusing Clupper of neglecting the inmates at the home.

Cesare Rendano, former Youngstown jeweler who returned to his native Naples in 1921 to enter business, finds that American racketeers are pikers compared to Adolph Hitler’s stormtroopers. They had a requisition for 150 watches and prodded Rendano with a machine gun to make him hurry.

Eleanor Jean Mountford, 26, of East Liverpool, who went to Shanghai five years ago to teach Chinese girls, is among 1,236 American expatriates en route to India on a Japanese exchange liner.